Pakistani drone aircraft crashes near air base

ISLAMABAD (AP) — An air force spokesman in Pakistan says one of his country’s drones has crashed while trying to land at a base.

Air Commodore Tariq Mahmood said the drone crashed Sunday during a routine flight in eastern Punjab province. Mahmood says the drone sustained minor damage in the crash and that no one was injured on the ground.

Pakistan’s military uses locally made drones for surveillance in a country now fighting a Taliban and militant insurgency.

The U.S. also conducts drone strikes on suspected militants in the country, a source of tension between Washington and Islamabad. The U.S. strikes had seen a six-month lull until a recent Pakistani offensive in its North Waziristan tribal region against militants there.